


Keep on loving you

by royalstcve



Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Amputation, Cuddling & Snuggling, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Hurt Steve Rogers, Hurt/Comfort, M/M, Mild Gore, Post-Mission, Steve Needs a Hug, Surgery, Tony Stark Has A Heart, and its breaking, its really not much but just wanted to warn you, so is mine to be honest
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-24
Updated: 2020-05-24
Packaged: 2021-03-02 23:15:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,798
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24354928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/royalstcve/pseuds/royalstcve
Summary: Tony leaves Steve with Sam and Bucky for the first time in four weeks, four weeks after their mission had gone wrong and Steve took the brunt of it. Steve misses Tony like he has lost a limb and needs his boyfriend.
Relationships: Steve Rogers/Tony Stark
Comments: 3
Kudos: 80





	Keep on loving you

**Author's Note:**

> Turns out it was Mental Health Awareness Week in the UK, I don't live there, but I have been thinking about this prompt for a while and what is a better time than to post it in such a week. The theme was Kindness so hence the amount of hurt/comfort and the resulting amount of hugs and cuddling. Take care of your mental health and seek help if you need it, sharing it with someone is also important. Take care <3
> 
> The title is Keep on loving you by REO Speedwagon because stevetony are those kinda sappy people and I can imagine Steve loving that song, although we barely got any information on which songs Steve loved in the 21st century, thanks to mcu...

Tony sat in his chair, spinning around, in his office from Stark Industries. He had two more meetings and than he could go home. It was just past lunchtime, the wrappers from his Subway sandwich were on the corner from his oak desk. It was a grey rainy day, looming clouds were passing by the skyscraper buildings. The office was the only place in the whole office building which felt like his place, the rest felt like an abandoned lonely building. It was efficient though. Tony was looking at one of the holograms, displaying the last released model of the Stark Phone, Tablet and Computer. He had also released some new papers about regenerative and restorative plans for the environment and his new department had just sent the updated version of the limb prosthetics. It still was not from the quality he desired, although it was getting there. He planned on figuring it out himself this weekend and letting the R&D department for the prosthetic limbs build prototypes, somewhere next week.

A new message on his private phone came in, it was from Steve, which made Tony a little nervous. He was hoping for a neutral or positive message. It had been a month since he had been at Stark Industries the last time, because of their last mission.

It had all went pear-shaped pretty fast. A megalomaniac villain wanted to take revenge, he said he had connections to Hydra. Captain America, Falcon, Winter Soldier and Black Widow had teamed up to take out the villain, while Iron Man, War Machine, Thor and Wanda had teamed up to take out his dodgy army. Bruce had stayed behind, which he did not mind at all.  
The villain seemed to be a mutant, some unidentified powers, which he could protect himself with mostly, not for attack tactics necessarily. His army wasn’t strong, it was a large army however and the monsters were big, the collateral damage was devastating. The evacuation of civilians went fine until Cap and Widow heard cries coming from another building. It came from a dingy flat and apparently several families were stuck in the building. Cap had barked orders out, they had to distract the army from coming closer to the building, it was already unstable. Iron Man went in together with Cap. Apparently it wasn’t people in the building, the villain had somehow found a way to produce sound coming from the building and the villain let more of the army come down to overwhelm the Avengers in the field, so two flying objects, reminding Tony off the Chitauri army, came at the building and it collapsed on them before they could even think about an escape route. They were both knocked immediately. Iron Man woke up first because of Widow and War Machine screaming through their comms. A huge headache was coming on and his legs felt trapped under a beam. The suit protected him from breaking anything, not from bruises and sprains, however. Tony could not locate his boyfriend immediately, Jarvis identified a body laying 9 feet away from him though.

Tony had given the team the limited information he knew and then passed out again. He woke up roughly half an hour later when the team had reached them. Tony had stumbled towards Steve, pushing away anyone who tried to catch him and stop him from reaching his boyfriend. Tony saw a rescue squad lifting his Steve onto a stretcher and into a trauma helicopter. All alarm bells started ringing in his mind. Steve looked so unnaturally pale and he hadn’t moved at all, Tony sunk to the ground on his knees, somewhere distant he felt rubble puncturing his hands and legs and his ankles were throbbing, but he did not care, his probably lifeless boyfriend was getting carried away into a trauma helicopter. A body had sat down next to him, wrapped his arms around him and let him sob into his shoulder, the distinct perfume of Rhodey he noticed. Tony had passed out from shock, which resulted in him waking up in a hospital bed. Rhodey and Nat sat next to him and Rhodey had given him a glass of water while Nat had asked a nurse to come and look at Tony. He had gotten some saltine crackers, later when the shock had completely worn off he got an actual meal.   
Rhodey had explained that Steve was in surgery and because they were running the risk of Steve waking up Sam and Bucky were with him. Turned out Steve had woken up while they were amputating his right arm. A stale beam had crashed down on him, through his upper arm. The damage could not be repaired, even with Steve’s super-soldier serum. Bucky had to pin him down so he wouldn’t be moving too much, while Sam had tried to distract Steve. 

Tony had cried until he had passed out from exhaustion. Rhodey had woken him up for dinner and then had gone straight back to sleep. The next morning, Thursday, Sam had entered his room, after breakfast, and told him Steve was asking for him. Tony had freshened up because Nat had threatened him and pulled on new clothes before he had gone to see his boyfriend. Bucky and Rhodey were the only ones with them in the room. Steve was still sickly pale and had been writhing from the pain, his jaw painfully clenched. Tony had rushed to his bedside and climbed into the bed on his left side. Steve had smushed his face into Tony’s chest and sobbed his heart out, the bed was nearly shaking from it. Steve had mumbled Tony’s name over and over while Tony reassured him he wouldn’t be going anywhere and trying to let the younger man relax a little because he was squeezing him so tight it was bruising his ribs. Bucky had intervened after five minutes because he wouldn’t let up. 

“Come on Steve, you’re crushing your boyfriend and you need to breathe as well. Come on, let go for a minute.” Bucky had pulled softly, trying to avoid actually hurting him even more. 

After several minutes of coaxing Steve had let up a little and started breathing as Bucky instructed him to, which helped.

“It hurts, Tony.” Steve had moaned from the pain, which was saying something since he usually denied anything hurting him unless he was alone with Bucky or Tony. Rhodey had silently slipped out of the room when he saw Tony was handling it okay with the assistance from Bucky.   
“I’m sorry Steve, I can imagine it does, but it will get better, I promise sweetheart.” Tony had said while combing his fingers through Steve’s hair. Steve had refused to eat because he was nauseous from the pain, which was not great with his metabolism.

After a week in the hospital, the pain turned manageable and while Steve hadn’t eaten much and lost weight, he was allowed to go home. He still looked beaten up, his ribs were visible, his cheekbones were even more pronounced, he stumbled because he turned so weak from the exhaustion and hunger, his eyes were filled with pain and anxiety. He also hadn’t shaved so a stubble was forming, pronouncing the thin look of Steve’s face even more. His under eyes looked purple and his skin looked still sickly pale.

Some of the tension seemed to be gone from his body language though now that he had returned home. Those following three weeks had been immensely hard for Steve, with Tony close by his side it had been doable though. All the frustrations from the things he couldn’t do anymore had been eating away at his usual determined and light-hearted boyfriend. All the therapy he had gone through because of survivors guilt, ending up in the future, no sense of purpose except being a soldier and his ever-present PTSD, seemed to be undone. The nightmares had returned, the days he wouldn’t come out of his bed, anger issues, the tremors because of his anxiety. The arm had healed nicely but mentally Steve had taken a big hit, again. And that did not even take into account the phantom pain yet.

Tony had to return to his work at some point though. Which was today, an arbitrary Tuesday, stocked with meetings. He had arrived at 8.30 am and he had had two other meetings already. When he left in the morning Steve had clung to him as if he was his lifeline. Bucky and Sam had arrived several minutes later so they could distract Steve, leaving him alone was the worst possible plan, so there they were. They had planned to make a big breakfast, lunch and dinner together and watch some movies. They also offered to do some stretching exercises with Steve. Tony wondered if that had succeeded knowing how passive and stubborn Steve had become. Bucky had held Steve back from running after his boyfriend and Sam had pushed Tony out the door before he would succumb to the kicked puppy-eyes from Steve, which were shining with tears.

Tony had felt bad about it until Pepper had pulled him along to the two meetings. They had eaten lunch together in his office, Pepper trying her hardest to distract him from thinking about Steve. She had gone to the bathroom and when she returned pulled him out of his stupor when the door closed a little harsh.

“Oh my, some of those businessmen can be such assholes. I can’t believe why I put up with them. I’m gonna consider breaking contract with them if they keep up this behaviour!” She came in ranting.

“Are you okay, Tony? Did something happen?” A worried look came over her.

“No, no, don’t worry. I was just thinking about...you know? It’s been a rough few weeks. The distraction is nice and all, I’m glad to be back doing what I love, but it just hit me what happened I guess?” Tony explained. Pepper sat down on his desk and took his hand and squeezed it softly.

“Okay, I get that. Are you both going back into therapy? It’s traumatic what you went through.”

“I don’t think I will. I know that Steve is still here and I know how to handle nightmares when they come back. I might try to find something like how to reduce stress and exercise to relax, like PT. That might help both of us, I hope. And Steve needs his sports to calm down so he needs to find new ways to do that, at least stuff like boxing I mean.” Tony rambled a little incoherently.

“If that’s the plan than I am sure you’ll be fine. Steve will get the first model of your prosthetics line knowing you, Bucky and Sam will help him and the rest of the team of course. And, I’ve been thinking about this for years for you, but I never got around to finding the right moment, maybe a service dog could help both of you?” Pepper asked with a soft smile on her face.

“Thanks, Pep. I’ll definitely do some research into that and yeah, we’ll be alright, just going to take a while.” Tony sighed.

After that, they focused on the two meetings left and four hours later Tony left the building. The text from Steve had only been an “I miss you and how are you doing” text, which Tony answered just before going into his third meeting of the day. Now, it was 5 pm, and he was on his way to the Tower, with Pepper. He texted Steve he would be in his workshop finishing up some papers and other minor tasks before going up to have dinner.

Tony was just going through some paperwork when the doors to his workshop opened and he felt a body collide against his back and one arm wrap around his waist grabbing a fistful of his shirt. He got the wind knocked out of him and when he turned around he saw Sam and Bucky standing in the door opening looking apologetic and sheepish. 

“Sorry, we couldn’t hold him anymore,” Bucky said shrugging helplessly.

“Don’t worry, thank you.” Tony waved to them to leave it and they turned around and left the workshop.

“Hey Steve, come on, let’s rearrange so I can finish all these little tasks. I’ll sit in your lap, okay?”

“Okay, yeah.” Tony heard Steve mumble against his shoulder.

Tony stood up from his chair and Steve sat down and pulled him into his lap. Steve wrapped his arm again around Tony’s waist with a fistful of his shirt in his grasp and he leaned with his head against the nape of Tony’s neck. Tony covered Steve’s hand with his hand and grabbed his pen with his right hand so he could finish signing some papers. 

Tony shot Pepper an apologetic look which Pepper just disregarded. They worked another hour and Steve seemed to fluctuate heavily between crying, build up energy and frustration, defeat and an intense need for comfort. Tony did not acknowledge Steve’s tears except for rubbing comforting circles onto his hand and thighs when he had his right hand free. Pepper left for the communal kitchen to eat with the team, while Tony stayed behind with Steve.

Tony tried to stand up which prompted a pitiful moan from Steve. 

“I am not going anywhere without you, come, let’s go lay on the couch for a minute sweetheart.”

Steve let himself be steered towards the couch where he normally would be sitting to draw. It hit Tony that Steve couldn’t draw anymore, he was right-handed. He pushed that idea out of the way and comforted himself with the thought that he could draw with his prosthetic or left-hand.

“How was today?” Tony asked while laying them on the couch. Tony half-sitting, half-laying on his back, with Steve half on top of him, his arm wrapped around Tony’s hips and ear pressed to Tony’s chest so he could hear his heartbeat. Tony started rubbing Steve’s back when he felt the tears soak his shirt.

“Hey, sweetheart, what’s going on? Everyone is here in the tower, we’re fine. Did you have a nightmare?”

“Noo….. I- Tony…” Steve hiccupped, “my- my arm… it hurts so bad.” Steve started sobbing again.

“Steve, when did that start? It can’t be infected with the serum.” Tony felt his chest tighten from the anxiety over his boyfriend being in pain.

“After lunch, it’s no infection. Sam told me it could be phantom pain.” Steve told him when he had calmed down a little. Steve was clasping the residual limb, it got amputated above the elbow. 

“Did he tell you how to solve it as well? I am not an expert on all of this yet.”

This prompted an unexpected snort from Steve, “Yet huh?”

“Exactly, everything for my boyfriend. I’ll become an expert for him on anything.” Tony wiggled his eyebrows when Steve looked at him with his red-rimmed eyes and tear-stained cheeks. Tony cupped his face and gave a kiss to his forehead and then his nose and then a lingering kiss on the lips.

“I love you, Steve. For you, I would do anything to make you happy.”

“I know Tony, thank you. I love you too, so much.” Steve’s voice quivered and new tears formed in his eyes, which Tony whipped away.

“Do you feel up to eat something?”

“Yeah, I’m actually kinda hungry.”

Together they went up to the communal room where the rest of the team was already halfway through dinner. Bucky scooped two plates and moved them to the two empty seats beside him. Bucky squeezed Steve’s thigh softly and then went back to his conversation with Thor.

After their dinner, they went up to the penthouse, showered together, Tony helped Steve change the compression dressing for his arm, pulled clean shirts on and went to lay in bed. While softly kissing, Tony told about his day. Occasionally Steve tensed up with a new wave of pain coursing through him, Tony comforted as best as he could and eventually they had fallen asleep. Tony thinking about a possible service dog, a prosthetic arm and that he needed to speak to Bruce about making the phantom pain manageable. 

“Thank you, Tony. I couldn’t do this without you.” Steve mumbled sleepily and boneless laying in the soft clean bedsheets.

“No problem sweetheart, I’m always gonna try to be there for you. Now go to sleep.”

“Says you…” Steve peered up at him opening one eye.

Tony snorted and rolled over into Steve’s side, with his head buried in the taller man’s neck. Steve planted a soft kiss into the thick, coarse, black hair.

“Goodnight,” Steve whispered.


End file.
